E-mail: andy.downs@bullivant.com 2 Ted A. Smith, SBN 159986 E-mail: ted.smith@bullivant.com 3

BULLIVANT HOUSER BAILEY PC

4 101 Montgomery Street, Suite 2600 San Francisco, CA 94104 5 Telephone: 415.352.2700 Facsimile: 415.352.2701 6 Attorneys for Defendant Sentinel Insurance 7 Company, Ltd. 8

9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 12 DOMINIC INVESTMENTS, a California LLC; Case No.: 2:22-cv-01450-JAM-KJN ROSEVILLE FLOORING, INC., a California 13 corporation, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

14 Plaintiffs, 15 vs. 16

SENTINEL INSURANCE COMPANY, LTD.,

17 a Connecticut corporation; THE HARTFORD; 18 and DOES 1 to 10,

19 Defendants.

20

21 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 22

23 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, or 24 private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 25 purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 26 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The 27 parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or 28 responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 2 applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3 (Filing 3 Protected Material), below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to a file 4 confidential information under seal; Local Rule 141 sets forth the procedures that must be 5 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to 6 file material under seal. 7 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 8 This action is likely to involve the discovery of information, both in documentary and 9 testimonial form regarding the financial performance and business strategies of Subrigo 10 International Corporation and the internal claim handling procedures of Sentinel Insurance 11 Company, Ltd. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 12 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect 13 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted 14 reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to 15 address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective 16 order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that 17 information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so 18 designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public 19 manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 20 2. DEFINITIONS 21 2.1 Action: [this pending federal law suit]. [*Option: consolidated or related 22 actions.] 23 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 24 information or items under this Order. 25 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 26 generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal 27 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 28 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support 2 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items 3 that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 4 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 5 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other 6 things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures 7 or responses to discovery in this matter. 8 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent 9 to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or 10 as a consultant in this Action. 11 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House 12 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 13 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other 14 legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 15 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 16 Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have appeared in this 17 Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of 18 that party, including support staff. 19 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 20 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 21 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 22 Material in this Action. 23 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 24 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 25 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 26 subcontractors. 27 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 28 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2 Producing Party. 3 3. SCOPE 4 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 5 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected 6 Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any 7 testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal 8 Protected Material. 9 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge. 10 This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 11 4. DURATION 12 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by 13 this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court 14 order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all 15 claims and defenses in this Action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after 16 the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this 17 Action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time 18 pursuant to applicable law. 19 20 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 22 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this 23 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the 24 appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of 25 material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions 26 of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are 27 not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 28 2 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 3 unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and 4 burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 5 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated 6 for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all 7 other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 8 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order 9 (see, e.g., second paragraph of Section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 10 Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly 11 so designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 12 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 13 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 14 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 15 Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL 16 legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the 17 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 18 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 19 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need not 20 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it 21 would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the 22 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the 23 inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party 24 must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. 25 Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 26 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or 27 portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 28 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 2 or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all protected testimony. 3 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 4 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the 5 container or containers in which the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If 6 only a portion or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the 7 extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 8 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 9 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 10 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 11 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is 12 treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 13 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 14 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 15 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 16 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party Shall initiate the dispute resolution 17 process under Local Rule 251. 18 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 19 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 20 harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties), may expose the 21 Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the 22 confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the 23 level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the 24 Court rules on the challenge. 25 26 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 27 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 28 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action 2 may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this 3 Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the 4 provisions of Section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 5 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location 6 and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under 7 this Order. 8 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 9 ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may 10 disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 11 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as employees 12 of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 13 information for this Action; 14 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving 15 Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 16 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 17 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 18 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 19 (d) the Court and its personnel; 20 (e) court reporters and their staff; 21 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to whom 22 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 23 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 24 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or 25 other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 26 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action to 27 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that the 28 witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep 2 Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. 3 Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 4 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone 5 except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 6 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, mutually agreed 7 upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 8 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 9 LITIGATION 10 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that 11 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 12 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 13 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 14 copy of the subpoena or court order; 15 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 16 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to 17 this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; 18 and 19 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 20 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 21 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 22 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 23 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order 24 issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party 25 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material, 26 and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving 27 Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 28 2 THIS LITIGATION 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this 4 Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 5 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 6 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 7 additional protections. 8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non- 9 Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with 10 the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 11 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or all of 12 the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 13 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in this 14 Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 15 information requested; and 16 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, if 17 requested. 18 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14 days of 19 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 20 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely 21 seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession 22 or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 23 determination by the Court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 24 burden and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material. 25 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 26 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 27 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 28 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 2 Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 3 made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 4 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 5 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 6 MATERIAL 7 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 8 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 9 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This 10 provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery 11 order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of 12 Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of 13 a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product 14 protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order 15 submitted to the Court. 16 12. MISCELLANEOUS 17 12.1 Right to Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek 18 its modification by the Court in the future. 19 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective 20 Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing 21 any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. 22 Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the 23 material covered by this Protective Order. 24 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected 25 Material must comply with Local Rule 141. Protected Material may only be filed under seal 26 pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. If a 27 Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving 28 2 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 3 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in Section 4 (DURATION), within 4 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all 5 Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, 6 “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other 7 format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material 8 is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the 9 Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 10 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 11 returned or destroyed; and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 12 abstracts, compilations, summaries, or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 13 Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival 14 copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 15 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 16 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any 17 such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this 18 Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 19 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measures 20 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 21 22 ORDER 23 The court has reviewed the parties’ stipulated protective order. (ECF No. 22.) The 24 stipulation comports with the relevant authorities and the court’s applicable local rule. See L.R. 25 141.1. The court APPROVES the protective order, subject to the following clarification. Once 26 an action is closed, “the court will not retain jurisdiction over enforcement of the terms of any 27 protective order filed in that action.” L.R. 141.1(f); see also, e.g., MD Helicopters, Inc. v. 28 Aerometals, Inc., 2017 WL 495778 (E.D. Cal., Feb. 03, 2017) (noting that courts in the district 1 || case). Thus, despite the parties’ agreement that jurisdiction extend beyond the end of this 2 || action, the court will not retain jurisdiction over this protective order once the case is closed. 3 Dated: January 5, 2024 Foci) Aharon 5 || domi.1450 KENDALL J.NE ‘ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ 4 [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court 6 for the Eastern District of California on _____ in the case of Dominic Investments, et al. v. 7 Sentinel Insurance Company, Ltd.. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of 8 this Stipulated Protective Order, and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply 9 could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise 10 that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated 11 Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 12 Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 14 Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 15 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. I hereby 16 appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 17 ___________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as my 18 California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related 19 to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 20 Date: ______________________________________

21 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________

22 Printed name: _______________________________ 23 Signature: __________________________________ 24

25 4862-9494-8761.2 26 27 28